


The Anger Games, The Hunger Games from Gale's point of view

by MissDaytona



Category: The Hunger Games
Genre: Book 3: Mockingjay, Book/Movie 1: The Hunger Games, Book/Movie 2: Catching Fire, F/M, Gale pov, Gale's POV, gale hawthorne - Freeform, katniss everdeen - Freeform, peeta mellark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-06-27 23:20:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15695415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDaytona/pseuds/MissDaytona
Summary: The Hunger Games from Gale Hawthorne's point of view.Canon compliant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or the characters in this fanfiction, it all belongs to Suzanne Collins.  
> Hi! I'm fifteen and this is my first fanfic, I hope that you'll like it. English is not my primary language, so please excuse any grammar errors or misspellings (feel free to tell me about them in the comments). Thanks to my readers <333.

I wake up much earlier than I usually do. It's reaping day today and that means that I have to sneak into the woods to hunt and be back before two o'clock. The annual reaping begins at two and then the electricity will turn back on. And that means that the electric fence that surrounds District 12 will be on. If I don't hurry, i will miss a whole day of hunting. And my family can't afford that with five mouths to feed.

The reaping also means that weeks of terror will begin for two unlucky families in every district in the country. Their children will be forced to participate in the Hunger Games. Two tributes, one boy and one girl from each of Panem's twelve districts, will be reaped and sent into an arena to fight to death until only one survives.

The rulers of our country, Panem, tell us that the Games are a consequence of the Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the rulers in the far-off city called the Capitol. After twelve districts were defeated and the thirteenth were obliterated by the Capitol, they came up with the Treaty of Treason, which guaranteed peace. They also came up with the Huger Games – to remind the districts to never repeat the Dark Days.

What they didn't tell us, I think bitterly, was that peace meant starvation and poverty. Because starvation, poverty and death, is what the daily life the districts consist of. Meanwhile, the people in the Capitol live in an overflow of luxury and food. To them, the Games are only entertainment, and to add insult to the injury, we are forced to treat the Games as a celebration while we watch our neighbors, friends and family being killed on television.

I will never understand the sick, twisted inhabitants of the Capitol. I can't stand their ridiculous accents and their twisted sense of "fashion". When I see their strange tattoos, their skin that has been dyed in extravagant, unnatural colors, and their surgically altered faces, I get nauseous. Surgically implanted whiskers, talons, gemstones, and decorative patterns cut into their skin, is considered pretty in the Capitol. They all seem extremely shallow to me. And the fact that they enjoy watching kids die painful and horrible deaths makes me want to kill all of them. If I had a button that killed every Capitol supporter instantly, I would push it without any hesitation.

I quietly slide out of the bed that I share with my two younger brothers, Vick and Rory. I get dressed, put on my father's old hunting jacket and slip on my old, battered, pair of boots. Then I sneak into the kitchen to grab my forage bag.

The streets of the Seam, our part of District 12, are empty when I slip out of our house. The coal miners working the morning shifts get to sleep in today. Each district provides the Capitol with different products. Here in District 12, the poorest and smallest district, we mine coal. You enter the mines when you are eighteen. In a couple of weeks I will become a coal miner. My family will get a little bit more money then, but for now, we are dependent on the meat and money I bring home from poaching illegally in the woods and the oil and grain we get from my tessera.

I believe that tesserae is a tool that the Capitol has created to cause even more misery in the districts, because the system benefits the richer and disfavors the poorer. Once you turn twelve, you are eligible for reaping to participate in the Hunger Games. The first year you enter your name once, the next year twice and so on until your last year of eligibility when you are eighteen. That year you have to enter your name seven times. But if you are poor and starving you may add your name in the pool extra times in exchange for tesserae, a year's supply for grain and oil for one person. You can do this for each of your family members too and the entires are cumulative every year. So at the age of eighteen I have forty-two entries while some merchant kid my age only has seven. This causes wage between the starving workers of the seam and the less poor merchants who can afford food. And that is an advantage to the Capitol since it divides us among ourselves.

The absence of the coal miners make the streets of the Seam quiet and empty. My father used to be a coal miner too. But he died almost five years ago in a mine explosion and left me to support our family which consist of my mother Hazelle, my twelve year old brother, Rory, my brother Vick who is ten and my sister Posy who is only four. My mother was pregnant with Posy when my father died in the alleged mine accident. I don't believe for a second that the explosion was an accident. I'm sure that the Capitol rigged the explosion to quiet down a possibility of an uprising in District 12. But these are thoughts that I keep to myself. I don't even voice them to her. My best friend. Katniss Everdeen.

As I make my way past the meadow to the barbed chain-link fence that surrounds our district, I can't help thinking about her. She's the person I am the most comfortable with, and when I'm with her outside the fence, I finally feel free. As I check my snares that I set up yesterday I think about the first time we met. She was only a child back then. I'm only two years older than her, but back then, she was so small and so frail that it seemed like she could blow away with the wind. She was small, but fierce. It took a while for her to trust me, and six months before she was comfortable enough to even smile around me. But since then we've been inseparable. We go hunting together every Sunday in the woods. The woods are the only place where Katniss smiles, and I'm the only person she can be herself with. I'm usually filled with fire, rage and hate against the Capitol, but she can bring out a softer side of me.

Katniss is my best friend, but I actually feel a lot more than that about her. I haven't told her though because I'm afraid how she will react. Katniss always says that she never wants to get married. I'm hoping that she will change her mind one day, but I don't want to pressure her. And being Katniss, she never noticed how I feel about her. A lot of boys like her, but she's oblivious to it. I get a lot of attention by girls myself. I know what they whisper about, me and before I used to enjoy it. I've kissed too many girls to keep track of. But now, Katniss's the only one that matters. When I think back i realize that I never realized how much that girl would mean to me when I first met her. I only noticed her six months ago.

When I've finished checking my snares and setting them up again for tomorrow, I head back to the town and walk by the bakery with my game in my bag. I go to the backdoor of the bakery instead of the usual entrance and knock three times quietly on the door. It's our sign. The baker and I made it up incase his witch of a wife is home. The baker likes to trade squirrels, but he only does that when his wife isn't home. I'm lucky, Mr. Mellark, the baker answers the door. He greets me warmly but seem a little distant today. I understand why. Everybody feels that way on reaping day. The baker trades a loaf of bread against only one squirrel and he even tells me to say hi to Katniss from him. And as I turn to leave he tells me "Good luck." I nod my thanks and answer "You too," Then I leave and head back to the woods with the bread to meet Katniss for breakfast.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or the characters in this fanfiction, it all belongs to Suzanne Collins.  
> English is not my primary language, so please excuse any grammar errors or misspellings. (Feel free to tell me about them in the comments.)

I hear her approach even before I turn around. She's quiet as a hunter of course. But I'm also a hunter. And besides, I know her very well. 

"Hey, Catnip," I say when she in front of me, using my private nickname for her. 

"Hey Gale," she answers.

"Look what I shot," I say and hold up the loaf of bread which I have speared with an arrow. Warmth spreads its way through my chest as my joke earns me one of her rare laughs. Her fingers touch mine for a short moment as she takes the bread from my hands and her touch sends tingles up my arm. She holds the bread against her face and inhales the scent deeply. 

"Mm, still warm," she sighs happily. "What did it cost you?" 

"Just a squirrel," I reply. "Think the old man was feeling sentimental this morning. Even wished me luck." 

"Well, we all feel a little closer today, don't we?" says Katniss. She pulls something out of her bag. "Prim left us a cheese." 

Katniss's little sister, Prim, has a goat that we bought her for her birthday some time ago. She has made us goat cheese for reaping day, a very nice treat. "Thank you, Prim," I say. "We'll have a real feast." I hand the cheese back to Katniss.

"Oh, I al- most forgot!" I say, making my voice shrill to imitate the Capitol accent as I pretend to be Effie Trinket. Effie Trinket is the silly, upbeat woman who pick our names out of the Reaping pool once a year. "Happy Hunger Games!" I continue as I pluck a some blackberries from the bush beside me. "And may the odds —" I toss a berry in a high arc towards Katniss. She catches it gracefully in her mouth and eats it. Then finishes the sentence with the perfect imitation of the Capitol accent "— be _ever_ in your favor!" We laugh a little at our inside joke to conceal the fear i know we're both feeling. I have forty-two entries in the reaping, and she has twenty. The odds are clearly not in our favor. 

We eat the bread in silence. Both of us lost in our thoughts. I'm thinking about how much I hate the Capitol again. 

"We could do it, you know," I say suddenly. 

  
"What?" She asks, a little startled.

  
"Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods," I say, trying to hide my excitement as I imagine the life we could have lived. Me and her. Living and hunting everyday in the freedom of the woods. No more starvation. No more Hunger Games. Every day could be like our Sundays in the woods. Wonderful. "You and I, we could make it." 

  
I start to regret my words when she doesn't answer immediately so I hurriedly add "If we didn't have so many kids." Referring to both our siblings. 

"I never want to have kids," she says darkly. I get why she says that. Having children in district 12 is not something everybody would want since there is a risk that they will be reaped and sent off to the Hunger Games. 

I continue to picture our life in the woods. A life without the Games where all children are safe. Maybe then Katniss would change her mind about getting married and having kids. 

  
"I might. If I didn’t live here," I say quietly, still wrapped up in my fantasy world. 

"But you do," she says irritably, snapping me out of my daydream. 

  
"Forget it," I snap back angrily. We sit quiet for a wile after that. 

"What do you want to do?" She ask at last, breaking the science. I know she's not asking about the future. 

"Let’s fish at the lake," I suggest. "We can leave our poles and gather in the woods. Get something nice for tonight." _When we celebrate that none of us got reaped_ I think, forcing myself to be unnaturally cheery and positive while my insides burn with hate against the Capitol again. 

We fish and gather greens until late morning. Then when we slowly return back to town. It take some time, because we slow down to pick strawberries from a patch on the way back. 

"Maybe we can sell some to the mayor," Katniss suggests. The mayor is very fond of strawberries, and he can afford to pay a good price for them. 

We swing by the black market, the Hob, to trade some of the fish for nice bread and salt. Then we walk to the mayor's house to sell the strawberries. Madge Undersee, the mayors daughter, opens the door at my knock.

Madge has that typical merchant-townie-look. She's blonde with blue eyes, much unlike us Seam kids with our dark hair, gray eyes and olive skin. I actually think she's Katniss's only friend except for me. Katniss is not very friendly to other people. Madge is kind of shy, she doesn't talk much, but she's really kind. Still, I can't help but drop a snarky remark as I see her reaping clothes. Her white dress looks very expensive, and she has a small, circular pin, in what seems to be pure gold, attached to it. That pin, alone, could feed my whole family for months. So I say "Pretty dress." And it _is_ pretty, but I know that she's only wearing it for the reaping. She presses he lips together, but then she decides to pretend that she didn't hear my snarky tone. She smiles.

"Well, if I end up going to the Capitol, I want to look nice, don't I?" _Yeah right, as if_ you're _going to be reaped, townie kid._

"You won't be going to the Capitol," I say, and I can't quite keep the coldness out of my voice as my eyes land on her gold pin again. Now as I study it closer I realize that there's a little golden bird in the pin. "What can you have? Five entries? I had six when I was just twelve years old". Meanwhile, she had only one. 

"That’s not her fault," Katniss defends her. 

"No," I say bitterly "it's no one's fault." _Except for president Snow's_. "Just the way it is." Madge has stopped smiling now. She buys half of the strawberries and hands Katniss the money. 

"Good luck, Katniss." She says pointedly, avoiding to look at me. Then she closes the door.

I know that I was unfair to Madge. It's not her fault that she has more money than other people. But the whole system is so unfair that I don't even care that much if I hurt a townie's feelings by telling the truth. 

My bad mood doesn't disappear until Katniss and I have divided our spoils and she's heading home to change for the reaping. Then my anger is quickly replaced by anxiety. 

"Wear something pretty," I tell her as she's leaving. I meant to say it lightly as a joke, but it came out rather flatly as I kept thinking about Madge's expensive dress. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or the characters in this fanfiction, it all belongs to Suzanne Collins.  
> English is not my primary language, so please excuse any grammar errors or misspellings. (Feel free to tell me about them in the comments.)

I hurry home to get ready for the reaping. First I give this morning's earnings to my mother. Then I take a bath and get dressed in my father's best dress shirt which my mother has laid out for me. Wearing my father's clothes always brings me a wave of memories. I bring the collar of the shirt to my face and press it against my cheek. The smell of my father has long since faded, but if I close my eyes I can almost pretend that he's just been wearing it. _Don't get too sentimental now, Gale_. I shake my head to clear it. When I'm done I help my brothers to get ready while my mother dresses Posy.

At one o'clock the whole family's walking down to the square. My mother walks behind me, Vick is golding her hand tightly. Rory is walking closely beside me while I'm carrying Posy on my shoulders. Posy's giggling and pointing out different things to us while talking so rapidly that no one can understand her. She finds the event exciting because she's too young to understand the meaning of the reaping. Too young to understand why my mother is so pale and why the rest of us are all anxious. Today is Rory's first reaping, and I can tell that he's scared even though he puts up a brave face.

Once we're at the square I turn it to him, I crouch until we are at the same height so that I can look into his eyes. "Listen to me Rory," I say softly. "You don't have to be worried. You only have one entry," I try to reassure him. "The odds are in your favor." I refused to let him take any tesserae, even though he insisted on taking it. I know he want to protect our younger siblings too, but that's my job as the eldest brother. "It's not going to be you. I promise you that."

"It's not my one entry I'm worried over, Gale," he replies quietly, his face grim. "It's your forty-two."

I don't reply to that, I just smile sadly at him. I have no words of comfort, because I know that I am powerless against the reaping. We all are. And besides, I actually wouldn't be so surprised if I was reaped. The odds aren't in my favor after all. Katniss and I have a deal, if the unthinkable happens, the other one will take care of both families. I really hope that it won't come to that though.

Speaking of Katniss, I can see her walking towards the square with her family. She's wearing a beautiful blue dress that I've never seen her wear before. Her hair is braided up on her head. She is beautiful. She always is.

Katniss's little sister Prim is walking beside her, holding Katniss's hand in one hand and her mother's in the other. Prim is small and fragile, she doesn't resemble Katniss that much. She actually looks like a townie kid, she's blonde and blue eyed. Prim inherited her hair and eyes from Mrs Everdeen. Natalie Everdeen actually grew up in town, she used to be a merchant but she left town to live in the Seam when she married Garland Everdeen. She loved him so much that she left every thing behind to live in the Seam with him, even when every body thought it was weird that a merchant woman ran off with a poor coal miner. His death crushed her. I know that Katniss still resent her mother for shutting down when her father died. But she doesn't like to talk about it and I don't pressure her.

The square is decorated with bright colorful banners and camera crews are filming the reaping. A peacekeeper tells every body to go and stand in the right area so I have to put down Posy back on the ground. I give my mother a kiss on her cheek and hand over Posy to her. I ruffle Vick's hair and hug him too. He goes and stand next to my mother and she takes his hand and squeezes it. I give Rory a quick hug and tell him to not worry again, then I send him off to the roped off area where the twelve year old boys stand. That's all I get to do before I'm shoved towards the area where eighteen year old boys are supposed to stand by a peacekeeper.

I find myself jammed between people, but I'm tall enough to see around so I try to find Katniss, Rory or Prim in the crowd. I find Rory and Katniss in their areas, but I can't see Prim. She's short so she disappears in the crowd if taller people behind her. 

At exactly two o'clock, the crowd falls silent as Mayor Undersee steps up to the podium to tell the same propaganda story, constructed by the Capitol, that he tells every year. It's about the Dark Days, the Treaty of Treason and, of course, The Hunger Games.

Then the only living of the two District 12 victors, Haymitch Abernathy, staggers to the scene whilst mumbling something unintelligible under his breath. He's drunk as a skunk. As he always is. He falls into the chair next to the District 12 escort, Effie Trinket. The crowd applause politely and he stands up. He seems looks around and then he tries to give Effie Trinket a big hug but sort of falls on her instead. Effie Trinket manages to fend him off, but her silly, pink wig becomes a little loop-sided in the effort. Mayor Undersee looks very distressed. He knows that the whole event is being televised and every body views District 12 as a joke. He tries to quickly pull the attention away from the drunken Haymitch Abernathy by introducing Effie Trinket. ~~~~  
  
She recovers from her encounter with Haymitch Abernathy and trots the podium as bight and bubbly as ever. She smiles brightly at the crowd and doesn't seem bothered by that fact that no one smiles back. "Happy Hunger Games!" she says. "And may the odds be _ever_ in your favor!" It's her signature. The one Katniss and I made fun of earlier in the day.

"It's such an _honor_ to be here in District 12," she continues a little too enthusiastically. _Yeah right, we both know that you're hoping to be promoted to a better district._ I look around until my eyes catches Katniss's eyes and I smile a little before I remember that the odds definitely are against us this reaping.

"Ladies first!" Effie Trinket says brightly as she walks over to the glass ball with the girls' names. I watch her hand reach in and dig around as if it's happening in slow motion. She grabs a paper slip with a name on and pulls it out. The whole crowd falls so silent that you can hear a pin drop. It's as if every body's holding their breath. Time stands still for a moment as Eefie Trinket unravel the little piece of paper to read the name of the unlucky girl. _Please don't be Katniss, please don't be Katniss, please..._

And it's not Katniss.

Effie Trinket's voice rings out high and clear over the entire square as she reads the name " _Primrose Everdeen_!"


	4. Chapter 4

_No!_  I must have heard the wrong name. This can't be true, or can it? Suddenly Mrs Everdeen let's out a high-pitched scream that snaps me out of my desperate thoughts and forces me to accept that what I just heard was indeed true. I see my mother rushing towards Mrs Everdeen and putting her arms around her. I hear an unhappy murmur rising from the crowd. Everybody knows that a twelve year old from district 12 doesn't stand a chance in the games, and they all love Prim.

The people near the front of the podium step back a little, revealing little Prim as she stands there, in the middle of the crowd of qtwelve year old girls. Her face is white as chalk and she's shaking as she walks in small steps towards the stage. She clenches her hands into small fists at her side to keep them from shaking. She tries to be brave. 

 

I desperately look at Katniss where she stands frozen in place, clearly in shock. As Prim passes her she seems to suddenly come back to her senses. 

"Prim!" She screams, her voice sounding strangled. She's running through the crowd now. "Prim!" Her cry is heartbreaking. She shoves Prim behind herself with her arm, protecting her. And suddenly I know exactly what she's going to do. " _No!"_ I gasp.

I fight the urge to run up to the stage and cover Katniss's mouth to prevent her from saying the words out loud, because I know that she wouldn't ever forgive me if I prevented her from protecting Prim. _But I want to protect_ you _, Catnip. I want to protect both of you_. But I can do nothing but watch helplessly as Katniss says the words that change everything.

"I volunteer!" she gasps. "I volunteer as tribute!"

 _No!_ I want to scream for what feels like the millionth time today. But it's too late. The crowd is confused and Effie Trinket and the mayor are confused. They are talking but I don't care what they're saying.

And that's when Prim starts to scream hysterically.

" _No, Katniss! No! You can't go!_ "

I can hear Mrs Everdeen crying and I want to scream and cry too. But I have to be strong for Katniss. So when Prim wraps her small arms around her sister and refuses to release her no matter how much Katniss begs her to let go, I rush forward to them and lift up the trashing girl in my arms. My eyes meet Katniss's eyes and I struggle to keep my voice steady and steeled as I say, "Up you go, Catnip."

I carry Prim towards Mrs Everdeen. It's not an easy job because she's still trying to break free from my grip to run after Katniss. At last she gives up and falls limp in my arms as I hand her over to her mother. They both hug each other and cry together.

"Well, bravo!" gushes Effie Trinket. "That's the spirit of the Games!" she smiles widely at Katniss and asks for her name.

I return to my area again as Katniss answers her, a d somehow, she manages to hold her voice strong and steady.

"I bet my buttons that was your sister," Effie Trinket continues. "Don't want her to steal all the glory, do we?" I want to punch that stupid Capitol woman hard in her face, wipe away her silly smile. The only thing holding me back is the peacekeepers who are standing around the square. This is why I hate the Capitol so much.

"Come on everybody! Let's give a big round of applause to our newest tribute!" Effie Trinket trills. Luckily, no one applauses. Instead a woman in the crowd puts the three middle fingers of her left hand to her lips and holds it out to Katniss. Then I follow her lead, and after a moment, almost everybody one the square does it. The gesture is very old in our district, it's rarely used except for at a few funerals. I can see that Katniss is very touched by the gesture because it means that she has earned the crowds respect and that we admire her. _You deserve it, Catnip_. The gesture also means good-bye, to someone you love. _Catnip, I love you, but I really hope that this isn't a good-bye._

Haymitch Abernathy seems to admire Katniss too. He staggers across the stage to congratulate her. He throws an arm around Katniss's shoulders. She looks very uncomfortable, but Haymitch doesn't seem to notice. "I like her!" He exclaims. "Lots of... Spunk!" He says happily. "More than you!" he says to no one in particular. Then he looks right into the camera and shouts, "More than you!" while pointing directly into a camera. _Wow._ I'm actually pretty impressed. Who would know that the drunken skunk would actually challenge the Capitol on national television? It takes a lot of guts to do something like that, even if the challenge was not that obvious. He opens his mouth to continue but trips on his own leg and falls of the stage instead. He's managed to knock himself unconscious, and somehow, it seems pretty appropriate for the situation.

Effie Trinket tries to get the attention away from Haymitch who's being whisked away on a stretcher. "What an exciting day!" She exclaims. Her pink wig has fallen off even more to the side and she quickly tries to fix it without success. "But more excitement to come!" She continues. "It's time to choose our boy tribute!"

The crowd falls silent once again. For a moment, I consider volunteering to be the boy tribute. But then I realize that Katniss wouldn't ever forgive me if I didn't stay to take care of our families. But maybe I'll get reaped anyway, I have forty-two slips after all.

Effie Trinket quickly walks over to the glass ball with the boys' names. Her hand reaches down, and she has picked a name before I can blink. She unfolds the slip and reads, " _Peeta Mellark!_ ".

 _Oh_. I recognize the name Mellark of course. He's one of the baker's sons. He's a townie kid with ashy blond hair and blue eyes. He's neither shot nor tall, average in height, but unlike most district 12 kids, he's stocky built. Probably because he eats better than most kids here, and he lifts heavy sacks of flour every day at the bakery. I know that he has two older brothers, Rye and Barley. But nobody steps forward to volunteer for him. Rye is too old to volunteer. And Barley won't do it. Barely is in my year at school and he's kind of a jerk, but nobody messes with him because he's really good at wrestling.

Peeta Mellark is also a good wrestler, he came second to Barley in a wrestling competition at school. I don't know anything about him except for that. I've never spoken to him, and luckily, Katniss doesn't know him either. That's good. Because then he'll be easier for her to kill in the arena if she has to. And even if she doesn't have to, his death won't mean as much to her. If she doesn't know him. I'm relieved. But Katniss's reaction to the name is not relief. I try to catch her eye, but she's looking at Mellark with sorrow in her eyes. Perhaps realizing that he will have to die for her to come home. They shake hands after the Mayor reads the Treaty of Treason, and then the national anthem starts. When the anthem ends, I watch as the two of them disappear through the doors of the Justice Building.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More will come..


	5. Chapter 5

My mother finds me immediately after the Reaping. The tears are running down her cheeks and staining her dress.

"Gale, I'm so-" she starts, but I interrupt her before she can say the words, because if she says it, it means that she's given up on Katniss, and I refuse to let her do that. "Don't be, mom. Katniss is going to come back home," I say firmly.

My mother just gives me a watery smile tha can't quite mask the pain in her eyes. There's also a little too much understanding in the smile for my liking. "She _will_ ," I insist. "Katniss's smart, she can shoot with a bow, and set out snares." "You're right Gale," My mother finally says. "If anyone from 12 has a chance to win the games, it's Katniss." I sigh. "Listen to me, mom," I say. "I have to go to see her now, okay?" My mother nods and  give her a quick kiss on her cheek before I run all the way to the Justice Building.

Prim and Mrs Everdeen are waiting at the Justice Building to be admitted into the room where I know Katniss is. 

"Prim!" I say. "You have to do something for me." I walk closer to her. "You have to make Katniss promise to win  the Games for you," I tell her. "Katniss would never let you down or break a promise to you," I continue. Prim nods, understanding what I'm trying to do. "Yes, I think that will work," she says and wipes away her tears. "By the way, I'm sorry that I kicked you when you tried to carry me away at the reaping." I smile. "Don't worry about it, I didn't even notice that you did." At that moment, a peacekeeper shows up to escort Mrs Everdeen and her to Katniss. "And Prim?" I say as she starts to walk away. She looks back at me. "I'm sorry too." I don't say for what. I don't have to. Prim just nods and disappears with her mother and the peacekeeper.

I walk around the room, restless, when the door suddenly opens and the baker comes in. At first I think that he's gone to the wrong room. But he tells me that he's already said goodbye to Peeta and that he wants to speak to Katniss. I'm surprised by this but I let him go to meet her before me, wanting to save my goodbye to the last.

Prim and Mrs Everdeen are both crying when they come back from the meeting with Katniss I try to comfort them the best I can, but nothing that I say can really help the situation they are in.

When they open the door to leave the Justice Building, Madge enters it.

"Hi, Gale," she says softly. "Hey," I say back. "Are you here to say good-bye to Katniss?" Madge nods. "I want her to have my pin as her District 12 token." She hold out the little golden bird for me to see. "This mockingjay used to belong to my mother's twin sister, she was in the games." She doesn't say what happened to her aunt, it's implied anyway. District 12 only had two winners ever, and neither of those were a girl in Mrs Undersee's age. I don't really know what to say to Magde except for; "That's really nice of you." How could I not know this about her family? Maybe I've really misjudged townies. I've always hated the unfairness and the advantage they had in the Reaping. But today has showed me that the odds are bad for everyone. Prim got reaped even though she only had one entry. The Mellark boy also had the odds in his favor with no tesserae. And Madge's aunt died in the Games even though she was a merchant kid. "Listen, Madge, I'm really sorry about what I said to you earlier." She smiles. "It's okay, Gale, I understand." And at that moment the baker comes back from his visit with Katniss. I let Madge go in before me, and she surprises me by giving me a quick hug before disappearing with the peacekeeper.

Now I'm left alone once nore, with no one to talk to. I try to figure out what I'm going to say to Katniss when it's my turn to see her. We won't have much time.

But when my time to see Katniss finally comes, I forget all the things that I planned to tell her. Instead, I hold her tightly in my arms. And to be honest, that's fine with me. She leans her head against my chest and I inhale the scent of the woods in her hair. I wish I could freeze this moment and stay here, with her in my arms, forever. But I need to tell her something, to help her to win the Games in anyway I can.

"Listen," I tell her. "Getting a knife should be pretty easy, but you've got to get your hands on a bow. That’s your best chance."

"They don't always have bows," She says. True, but there _has_ to be a way. "Then make one," I insist. "Even a weak bow is better than no bow at all."

"I don't even know if there'll be wood." Her voice sounds so small and defeated, like she's already given up. _Don't give up Catnip! You have to make it back to me._

"There's almost always some wood, since the year half of them died of the cold," I say, a little more fiercely "Not much entertainment in that," I add bitterly. The Capitol only like to watch bloody, violent deaths. Tributes freezing to death is boring to them.

"Yes, there's usually some," she finally agrees.

"Katniss," I say softly. "It's just hunting. You're the best hunter I know."

"It's not just hunting," she says angrily. "They're armed. They think." _So what?!_ I want to scream, she's never going to make it back if she has this mindset. And she has to make it back. I take a deep breath to calm myself before answering.

"So do you. And you've had more practice. Real practice. You know how to kill."

"Not people," she whispers.

"How different can it be, really?" She can't afford to think of them as persons with lives. Sh has to think of them as obstacles or prey. It's horrible. But it will make it easier.

The door bursts open and the peacekeepers come in to fetch me.

"No! We need more time," I tell fiercely. "Give us some more time!" But those idiots won't listen to me. It's probably not a good idea to yell at peacekeepers. But I couldn't care less at the moment. And I refuse to leave willingly, so they grab me by my arms and start dragging me away.

"Don't let them starve!" she cries out, and this time she can't really hide the panic in her voice as her grip tightens on my hand.

"I won't! I assure her. "You know I won't!

"Katniss," I say, desperate to tell her before I have to leave. "Remember I'll wait for you, because this is not a good bye." We will see each other again, I refuse to believe any thing else. The peacekeepers yank us apart and slam to door between us even before I finish the sentence, and I don't even know if she heard me. " _I love you_ ," I whisper at the closed door. Then I'm forced to leave, wondering why I never told her that when I had the chance.


End file.
